


Tea and Fate

by Crollalanza



Series: A Cauldron Full of Hot Strong Love [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Background Relationships, M/M, daisuga - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 05:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11502408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crollalanza/pseuds/Crollalanza
Summary: Because he owed her, Suga agrees to help Alisa practise for her Divination NEWT. He has no faith in this branch of magic, but then Alisa's pronouncements on his teacup seem remarkably prescient.





	Tea and Fate

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Daisuga week 2017 using the prompt Past/Future - I've used both, although it's possibly a bit of a cheat - Ha!
> 
> Frinkle is a house elf I created in my HP days and I love her.

“Please. I only need you for a short while.”

“Can’t you find someone else?” Suga asked, head bent over a piece of parchment. “I have this Potions essay to finish.”

“You don’t have Potions until Monday, so that’s heaps of time, Koushi,” she said.

Inwardly groaning, Suga lifted his face up, meeting the dewy- blue eyes of his fellow Hufflepuff.

“It really won’t take long,” she continued, and smiled in what he presumed she thought was a winning way. “And I did lend you my old Charms notes, which got you out of trouble with Professor Yachi.”

Dammit, she had him! Skipping Charms had been a dumb idea, however pleasurable, because the lesson had been vital in the next essay. Only by borrowing her notes, had he appeased the wrath and wriggled out of a second detention from his Professor. Rolling up the parchment, Suga put down his quill and folded his hands firmly across his chest. “All right, Alisa, I’ll help, but this had better not be another request to tutor your brother.”

Alisa scrunched up her nose and then grinned. “Nothing like that. It’s me that needs the help now. It’s for my NEWTS.”

“You’re the year above me, so how can I possibly help?”

“I need someone to practise on,” she replied, and leaning over, she pulled on his arm.

 Suga wrenched himself away, sitting even further back in his chair. “You are _not_ letting any Magical Creatures loose on me. That’s not on!”

“Nothing like that,” she trilled, twirling a lock of her long blonde hair around her finger. “I promise. It’s Divination. May I read your future?”

“Is that all?” he asked, suspicious because that seemed simple.

“Three ways,” she qualified. “Tea leaves, Crystal Ball and ... um ... Palmistry.”

“Not Cards?” he mocked, but very gently because he knew Alisa believed in Divination and hoped to do well.

“No, they’re kind of Muggleish and unreliable,” she said, unironically. “Right, let me make the tea.”

Suga tried not to shudder because he was particular about his tea and Alisa’s was possibly the worst he’d ever tasted, especially as she insisted on heating the water on the common room fire and was unable to stop soot from entering the pot. “You really want to do it here?”

“Uh ...” She looked around the Hufflepuff Common Room, no doubt seeing (and hearing) as he did, the groans from the fifth years angsting over their OWLs, and the third years unable to keep the noise down, despite Hajime yelling at them to be quiet.

“Perhaps the kitchens,” Alisa suggested.

“Good idea.” His favourite house-elf, Frinkle, made superb tea.

Making sure he tucked the scroll inside his robes, Suga followed her through the winding tunnel, which led out of their Common Room. Alisa stopped in front of the fruit bowl painting, tickled the pear (giving a little giggle as she did so) and the door swung open.

It was busy, despite the fact that everyone had eaten dinner. The house-elves scurried around, cleaning pans, mopping floors, chattering away and barely sparing them a glance as they sat in a corner.

“If you will excuse Frinkle,” said a house-elf, approaching with a curtsey, “But Frinkle is wanting to know what Miss Alisa and Master Koushi is liking to eat.”

“Oh, nothing for me,” Suga replied.

“A pot of tea and two cups, please,” Alisa requested. “And not tea bags, Frinkle, the tea needs to be loose –”

“Teabags!” Frinkle, for a house elf, looked disgusted. “Silly Muggle invention. Frinkle won’t have the nasty things in her kitchen.”

She returned as quick as a wink, a large blue teapot and two porcelain cups on a tray, laying it with a flourish on the upturned barrel between them.

“Is the Miss and the Master wanting a candle?” Frinkle asked.

“Um ... no ...” Alisa replied, puzzled.

“Only, I know the Mast-”

“That’s fine, Frinkle!” Suga interrupted, and steeled himself not to flush. “Alisa, pour the tea so we can get started.”

“Why a candle?” Alisa puzzled, then shook her head, clearly deciding to think it through later.

Casting a slight Cooling Charm, Suga drank the tea quickly, leaving enough liquid in the bottom so Alisa could swirl the cup before placing it upside down on his saucer. She curled her fingers around it, giving the cup a quarter turn, before righting it.

“Interesting,” she breathed, then set it between them. “What do you see, Koushi?”

_A sludgy mess at the bottom of the cup. I hope that’s not my future._

“A tree,” he said instead. “Does that mean I’m going to get hit by the Whomping Willow?”

“What?” She frowned and peered closer. “Well, I suppose it could be a tree. And that does look like a wild branch, so ...” She licked her lips, lifted her head and straightened up. When she spoke again, her voice had lost its melodic quality, becoming serious and doom-laden. “Be careful where you fly, Sugawara Koushi. The Whomping Willow won’t hesitate to strike.”

Then she winked. “You have to ask me something about it now.”

“Is this Fate?” Suga complied. “Like, is this something that might happen, or will happen? Do I have a choice?”

“Fate isn’t set in stone, Sugawara,” she continued in her tone of dread.

(Suga really tried hard not to laugh.)

“However,” she continued, scowling when she heard him snort, “you can’t deny that ... Oh, hold on!” She blinked. “Stupid mistake!”

“What is?”

“I turned the teacup widdershins.”

“And that means?”

“It was your past! So, have you _been_ hit by the Whomping Willow?”

“No, never.”

“Then it can’t be right. Odd, because it really does look like a broomstick flying into a tree.”

Suga gaped. Then he closed his mouth hurriedly before she noticed. Divination might not be a form of magic he held much faith in, but Alisa was adept at reading body language and would suss him out in an instant.

“Shall we try the crystal ball?” he squeaked.

With a last squint at the teacup, and a muttered ‘I’ll come back to this’, Alisa reached inside her bag for her crystal ball.  It was an expensive one, even Suga, who’d dropped Divination as soon as was humanly possible, recognised the quality, and Alisa clearly took great care of it as it shimmered before them. And he felt a little ashamed of his earlier mockery because who was he to declare she didn’t possess real Seer abilities.

She wiped a smudge off with her sleeve, took a breath, and then placed her hands around the orb. There was a clatter of noise, one of the house-elves had dropped a platter and was falling over himself to apologise. Alisa huffed out a breath.

“This isn’t really a conducive atmosphere,” she murmured. “Maybe we should go somewhere else.”

“Hold on,” he whispered back, and flicked his wand.

“Oooh, a silencing charm!”

“Sort of,” Suga replied and smiled. “I’ve just muffled them around us. It’s a bit like Muggles soundproofing a room.”

“’Sound proof’.” Alisa tilted her head to the side. “You know a lot of things about Muggles, Koushi. I don’t remember learning that in Muggle Studies.”

“Ah, yeah ... um ... well ...” He coughed. “Background reading.”

“Surprised you didn’t take it for NEWT. You seem to find Muggle things fascinating.”

He assumed a bland expression, an I-know-you’re-fishing-but-I’m-not-biting expression, one that she returned by widening her already large blue eyes and an innocent smile.

“Are you going to read my future,” he snapped, “or can I go back to my essay?”

Raising her eyebrows, she tightened her lips, then flicked her attention back to the crystal. She began to hum. Suga stared at her. She hummed louder.

“Al-”

“Shh!”

“What are you doing?”

“New technique,” she whispered back. “I’m going for experimental points.”

“Oh. Do I need to do anything?”

She lifted her face to his, looked deep into his eyes, unblinking, and hummed again. “I see flammmmes.”

“What?”

“A flame,” she amended.

“Alisa.”

“Don’t interrupt.”

“But...”

She scowled at him. “You’re breaking the connection.”

“But you’re looking at me and not the crystal ball,” he pointed out.

“Oh ... Dammit, I was reading your aura!” She dropped her eyes to the ball. “Ugh, nothing now.”

“Try again?”

“I probably need to cleanse it,” she said, and reached across to her bag.

Recognising the sage leaves, Suga sat back in his chair and waited for Alisa to finish the ritual. Casting an Incendio Charm, she lit the herb and wafted the smoke across her crystal ball.

“Flames, though,” Alisa said.

“Hmm?”

“Your aura was dark orange, Koushi, and that’s odd.”

“Is it?”

“Mmm.” She levitated the leaves, swirling them haphazardly around the table. “You’re usually blue and yellow.”

“Am I?” He patted the back of his head. “Do you make a habit of reading auras, then?”

“I can’t always control my inner eye,” she said airily. “It’s a cross Seers bear. Visions appear and we’re powerless.”

This time he couldn’t control the snort, and although he tried extra hard to turn it into a cough, Alisa glared at him and the sage she was burning dropped onto the barrel.

“Orange and red,” she insisted, sounding waspish. “Not your _usual_ colours at all. I’m far more likely to see that around a Gryffindor.  They’re fiery.”

Oh, he wasn’t biting! “So’s Hajime,” he replied carelessly. “Maybe I’ve been spending too much time with him.”

He’d stumped her. She returned to the crystal, placing her hands around it and this time keeping her eyes focused downwards.

“Flames!”

“Yeah, you already said that.”  Suga wondered if Alisa was actually bothering now as she’d not even hummed and her voice was normal.

“No, I’m seeing them again. In the orb!”  She peered closer. “Or rather one flame. It’s ... it’s a candle! Koushi ...”

“What?” he replied, determined not to betray in the slightest how uncomfortable he was beginning to feel.

 _It’s guesswork,_ he thought. _Lot of nonsense. She’s reaching. Standard con trick._

“Have you been somewhere with candles recently?”

“I thought this was about my future,” he said.

“No, this is more present day. Well, it’s slightly past, I guess, as the exact present would be me and you, and then there’s no reason for me to divine anything.” She chewed the side of her mouth. “The crystal picks up my vibrations and I’m picking up yours.”

“My what?”

“Vibrations. It’s your subconscious really. I’m reading it.”

He said nothing.

“So, candles,” she tried again. “What do they mean?”

A note found in his school bag. An invitation to ‘dine’ and then the midnight feast of éclairs and tiny treacle tarts. Slipping out of Hufflepuff for a tryst in the kitchens. And Daichi smiling as he produced a single red candle, lighting it with his wand and setting it atop the barrel.

“Must be Charms. We were lighting candles last week. Precision was important and I didn’t do very well,” he bluffed. “Which reminds me, I really should practise, so if it’s all right with you, Alisa, can we cut the palm reading?”

He got to his feet, wand already out to cut the Muffling Charm. The sound of the busy kitchen hit them again, a cacophony of chattering busy house-elves, clattering dishes, and stacking plates.

But before he could escape, Alisa had grabbed his hand, splaying his fingers with her own. “Quite soft, which is surprising as you’re always playing Quidditch. Hard patch where your quill rubs.”

“This is _hardly_ Divination,” he said. “More like reasoned deduction.”

“I’m not as silly as you seem to think,” she retorted. “I have to make decisions in this exam based on what I can see with my outer eyes, too!”

She was biting her lip, eyes downcast and he felt a wave of shame engulf him.

“I don’t think you’re silly,” he mumbled.

She rubbed his hand, and he sat back down, shrugging his shoulders as he acquiesced to the reading.

“So ...” he began, in what he hoped was a conciliatory tone. “What does my palm tell you?”

“Your left hand, Koushi, is about ‘what could be’. It shows your potential.” She traced a line curving around his thumb. “Strong lifeline. This squidgy pad on your thumb is the Mound of Venus. Yours isn’t that prominent.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“Really prominent means you seek pleasure above everything else. A lack of Venus means you take no interest. Yours is ... um ...” She pressed into it. And then she smiled. “You like fun, but you’re not at all selfish. Kind of fits with your heartline.”

“Does it?”

“Oh yes, although, the little criss-crosses over it indicate some trouble ahead.”

“What sort of trouble?”

Maybe they shouldn’t skip any more lessons. Daichi had already served three detentions and if he mucked up his OWLs then they might kick him out.

“Uhm, could be anything. Separation, maybe. It’s –“ She moved her head down, narrowing her eyes. “There’s no break, though, so it’s not anything really awful. Sit tight and it’ll all work out!” she finished, her voice singsong.

_Or I could tutor him?_

He grinned, saying lightly, “Well, when I find my tall dark and handsome stranger, I’ll be sure to tell him or her that there’s no need to worry.”

She was still smiling, and then Alisa curled her hand around Suga’s fingers, closing his palm. “Maybe tell them now,” she whispered, her eyes dancing conspiratorially.

“Huh?”

“Mr or Miss Tall, Dark and Handsome might not want to worry.”

“Alisa ... I ...”

“You can’t fool me, Koushi. I’ve seen the way you’ve been this term. Your eyes are dreamy, you’re bunking off lessons – that’s why you needed my Charms notes, wasn’t it?” He refused to confirm, becoming mute instead. “And I know you snuck out the other night.”

“Pfft, I’ve been sneaking out of my dorm at night since I was a first year.”

“And you were watching the Gryffindor practise,” she said. “Perhaps that’s why your aura’s changed.”

He gave a slow handclap and yawned. “You need more practise, Alisa. Maybe try Hajime. This is a stretch even for you. Now, if you’ve quite finished, then I must get back to my essay.”

“Ah, the essay ...” She winked and her mouth was wobbling, the sure sign she was holding in a giggle.

“Yes, my Potions essay. I did tell you about it.”

“Of course.”

“Then I’ll go back.” He turned around, waving a cheery goodbye to Frinkle and thanking her for ‘the most excellent tea’.

“Word of advice, Koushi,” Alisa called.

“Don’t need any.”

It didn’t stop her. “That essay you’re writing.”

He rolled his eyes, twisting back to her. “What about it?”

“Maybe vanish the love hearts in the margin or Professor Washijou’s going to get completely the wrong idea.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really enjoying these Hogwarts AUs so I hope you are too.


End file.
